Stock Up, Stock Down: Dodgers, Angels, Red Sox, Orioles

Stock Down: Red Sox manager Alex Cora makes curious decision Monday night

File this under you never thought that you would see something like this. Ever. There’s taking one for the team, then there’s what Boston manager Alex Cora did to relief pitcher Kyle Barraclough against the Houston Astros Monday night.

Called up before the opening game of a three-game series in a pivotal series in the American League Wild Card race, Cora brought Barraclough on in the top of the fifth in relief of Chris Sale with the Red Sox down 3-2. Cora elected to let Barraclough finish the game and it wasn’t pretty. He allowed 10 runs, all earned, on 11 hits, five walks, and two home runs, including a shot to Jose Altuve to complete the veteran’s cycle in the game.

After the game, Cora explained his thinking and he was looking at the long-term picture rather than the moment of a winnable game.

“For us, it’s tough,” said Cora. “But this is where we’re at. It’s 16 games in a row. And a lot of teams go through this and we just have to get over that hurdle. Right now for us, this is where we’re at. We’re going to be in better shape [Tuesday] bullpen-wise. Much better.”

Take that any way you want, but it sounds like a guy frustrated with decisions made above him, being given a hand he doesn’t like and maybe, just maybe, beginning the steps of leaving in some capacity this offseason.

Stock Up: Baltimore Orioles continue to keep pace with Tampa Bay Rays

One of the more interesting races in September is going to be in the American League East between the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays. Whoever wins the division is likely the No. 1 seed in the AL Playoffs. I bet you didn’t envision reading that when the season began in March.

Well, here we are and for as good as the Rays have been, the Orioles have had to be better and they have been. They took two out of three over the weekend from the Colorado Rockies and then two out of three from the Chicago White Sox.

Offensively Baltimore continues to pile up the runs, putting up 23 against the White Sox, including nine runs on back-to-back nights in the first two games. Anthony Santander belted five home runs on their homestand. Scoring runs is going to be key for the Orioles and there is going to be more pressure on their starting pitching after the loss of closer Felix Baustia.

The Orioles have a big nine-game road trip coming up with three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Angels, and Red Sox. That’s a tough travel itinerary from Los Angeles to Boston, but they will have their work cut out for them if they are going to keep the Rays at bay. For now, they are doing what good teams do, win series against teams like Colorado and the White Sox late in the season.

Stock Down: Angles waiving the white flag and trying to give pieces away

At the trade deadline a month ago, the Los Angeles Angels went all-in to get to the playoffs with superstar Shohei Ohtani. Now 30 days later, they are waiving the white flag, trying to shed payroll, and are in a position that nobody wants to be in heading into what should be considered a franchise-alterting winter.

Falling quickly out of the AL Wild Card race, the Angles on Tuesday placed trade deadline trade additions Randal Grichuk, Lucas Giolito, and Reynaldo Lopez now waivers along with Matt Moore. Any team that claims them needs to pay them their remaining salary for the 2023 season.

Meanwhile, things for the Angels are going in the opposite direction of the Dodgers, who could very well swoop in this offseason and steal Ohtani in free agency. Making the decisions they did at the trade deadline was risky and it has backfired on them, big time. These decisions could set the franchise back further than they already are.

Mike Trout is back on the injured list, Ohtani is not going to pitch the rest of this season and his free agency is going to be the talk of the offseason. Not a good position for the Angels to be in considering their struggles to even get to the postseason in Trout’s and Ohtani’s prime seasons.